A Vial Of Trouble
by darkfox360
Summary: Peter finally loses it and makes Alice drink a potion which is supposed to makes her fall in love with him. But it goes wrong, and she ends up falling in love with...gasp! Blood? Boris? Elliot? Julius? Full summary inside.
1. Boris, I love you!

After Alice rejects him yet again, Peter finally cracks, and gets a potion which makes Alice fall in love with the first person she talks to. The trouble is, every time she wakes up, she doesn't remember anything, and she could fall in love with a different person every time! And so in this way, she end up falling in love with…gasp! Boris? Blood Dupre? Ace? Elliot? Julius! What will everyone's reactions be?

**A Vial of Trouble**

1 : Boris, I love you!

"Peter, stop it! I don't like you!" screamed Alice, when Peter tried hugging her. She kicked him (a bit harder than she intended to), and he collapsed, and fainted.

Peter walked through the familiar land. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he was conscious that he was in his dream, with Nightmare.

"I can't take it anymore!" Peter announced dramatically.

"What?" asked Nightmare, though he could simply read his mind and find out the answer.

"Why won't Alice fall in love with me? What can I do? I've tried everything!" cried Peter.

"Fine, I'll help you" said Nightmare nonchalantly, and handed Peter a small vial with some red liquid in it. "Make her drink this, and she'll fall asleep. If you're the first person to talk to her, she'll fall in love with you. One thing though, she may go a bit crazy, so be careful. She might end up in the hospital" he said with a shudder.

"That's okay. I'll take good care of Alice! Why didn't you give this to me earlier?" asked Peter, and skipped off.

--

"Alice, can you please drink this?" asked Peter, in his rabbit form, trying to look as cute as he could manage.

"No way!" She had been taught since a young age that she was not to accept any food or drink from random people, especially ones who could transform into small, furry rabbits at will.

"Then you leave me with no choice" he said, and transformed back to human. He poured the liquid into his mouth. And once again, he kissed her and forced her to drink the liquid.

Alice became limp, and soon fell into a deep sleep. He tried to wake her up, just as Boris walked by.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking curiously at the unconscious Alice.

"Nothing. Leave, now" said Peter, blindly shooting in the direction he thought Boris was.

Alice slowly regained consciousness.

"Oh, hey Alice!" said Boris.

And then Peter realized what had happened. Boris was the first person to talk to Alice, after she woke up. That meant…

"Boris," said Alice, with adoring eyes. "Boris, I love you."

"_What?_" asked Boris, pushing Alice off as she attempted to hug him.

"You heard me. I'm in love with you" she said again.

"Alice, don't say it!" shouted Peter. "You don't love him. It's this potion's fault!"

"Potion? Oh, the one you made me drink?" she said, continuing to gaze into Boris's eyes.

"Alice, you're scaring me" said Boris frantically.

"Me too!" shouted Peter. 'This wasn't supposed to happen! She was supposed to love me!" Then he turned to Boris. "You! It's all your fault! Who told you to talk to her?"

"How was I supposed to know?" he said, and ran off with Alice trailing behind him, when Peter began shooting at him.

--

"Hey Boris, where are we going?" asked Alice.

"What do you mean 'we'? Why are you following me?" shouted Boris. "I'm going home!"

"Then I'll come with you! You can…uh…show me your new guns!" said Alice, desperately searching for a reason to follow him.

"Alright! I just got one yesterday, it's so cool, I'm sure you'll love it…" said Boris, excited at the thought of bloody weapons.

In Boris's room, Alice sat on the bed, with a broad, uncharacteristic smile on her face.

"See, this is the one I got yesterday. You like it?"

"I love it! Can I hold it?" asked Alice.

"Of course! But last time, you said – " started Boris, but the door banged open, and they both turned to see who it was.

"Alice! I heard you were here!" said Gowland pompously, and shook her hand enthusiastically.

"No, let me go! I belong to Boris!" shouted Alice, and went to stand next to Boris.

"You do?" asked Gowland.

"Excuse her, she's a bit...err…confused at the moment" said Boris, sighing.

"I'm not confused! I love Boris, and not you!" she said, sticking her tongue out at Gowland.

"Alice has a surprisingly childish side to her, doesn't she?" said Gowland quietly.

"Alice, why do you love this pesky cat?"

"Shut up."

"Anyway, as long as you're here, I thought I'd play a little piece for you. I learnt it recently" announced Gowland and pulled out his violin, if you could call it that. This time, it resembled a cello. He screeched away horribly while harmonizing with out-of-tune "La-la-la"s, refusing to listen to their pleading and begging.

Finally, Alice snapped. "Shut up, Mary Gowland, shut up! You're terrible at playing instruments, so you should just give up!"

The two men stared at her in shock. No one had dared to insult Gowland about his musical skills as yet. They sat in silence for a few long moments. Then, Gowland broke the ice, by laughing loudly.

"Ahahaha, as Boris said, you're confused at the moment. You don't know what you're saying! I'm the greatest violin player I know! Ahahahaha!" he laughed, slapping his thigh.

"Anyway, I wanted you two to test some new rides for me, okay? It'll be fun!" said Gowland, eyes watering from laughing so much.

"Old man, no, not again" said Boris wearily.

"Okay!" Alice agreed readily. "Come on Boris!" she shouted, and pulled him by the tail.

"Ow! Ow! Alice! Stop it! Stop it! You're not sane right now! Let's not go on the ride! Remember what happened last time?" shouted Boris.

"That's all right! Come on!" she said, with one final tug of his tail. And so they followed Gowland (Boris did so unwillingly) until they reached a strange, scary looking ride.

"Ooh, what's it called?" asked Alice enthusiastically.

"It's called 'The Death Trap'" said Gowland proudly, buckling them into the first seats.

"Wait, you don't mean – AAAAAAH!" screamed Boris.

A few minutes later, the two of them staggered off the ride, and collapsed on the nearest bench.

"That was insane" said Boris.

"It was so scary!" said Alice. "Good thing you were there, or else I would have died!" she said, leaning against his shoulder.

"Alice, seriously, are you all right? What was that white rabbit saying about a potion?"

"Oh, I don't know, I think it was some love potion of some sort" said Alice, giggling.

"What? Love potion? Alice, snap out of it, this is scary!" said Boris, looking at Alice worriedly.

"Aaah…I'm sleepy…" said Alice, and drifted off to sleep. Just then, Peter entered the amusement park, looking for Alice. When he spotted her, he rushed over to the bench, and started shouting at poor Boris all over again.

"This is all your fault!" he accused.

"Me? You're the one who gave her some…love potion or something!" Boris retorted.

"Whoah, what's all this fighting about?" asked Gowland. "You, Peter White, what are you doing on my territory?"

"I've come to take Alice back!"

Just then, Alice woke up.

"Hey Alice, how are you? How was the ride?" asked Gowland. Alice didn't respond, but instead gazed into Gowland's eyes, with distant eyes.

Boris sighed. "Here we go again…"

--

**How was it? **

**Don't you think Gowland has been neglected for too long, and deserves some attention? I do!**

**Read and review!**


	2. Mary, I love you!

**I had so much fun writing this chapter! Gowland is hilarious! Love him 3**

**Idea for this chapter: Fate Pwns You.**

2: Mary, I love you!

"Alice, why are you looking at me like that?" asked Gowland.

"Mary –" she started.

"BORIS! This is your fault! Why did you tell her? No wait, it's not your fault, it's that man's fault! BLOOD DUPRE! I'LL KILL HIM!!!" he raged, his aura burning with anger and vengeful feelings.

"Talk of the devil, and the devil shall appear" said Boris softly, as they turned to face Blood Dupre, the mafia boss himself.

"Well, well, well, what have we here, Mary?" asked Blood tauntingly. He turned to Alice. "Young lady, I assume you are here—socializing—with people (coughseducingthemcough), but I hope you don't mind if I have a little fun with _Mary_ here" he said, smirking.

"No! Don't do anything to him! He's MINE!" shouted Alice, and pulled a speechless, stunned Gowland away from everyone else.

"That was odd" said Boris.

"So Alice is now trying to mess with Gowland's feelings, eh?" said Blood. "We'll see about that."

"But why is she calling him Mary?" asked Blood.

"I think she thinks she's being familiar with him by using his first name" said Boris, almost falling over with laughter.

--

"Hey Alice, do you want to hear some violin music?" Gowland asked, pulling out a violin (it was smaller than it should have been) before anyone could refuse. Unfortunately, what Alice was going to say was not a refusal.

"Oh, of course I would!" said Alice joyously, her expression on of rapt attention. "What's it called?"

"It's called 'Claire de Lune'" he said, and was about to start, when Alice interrupted.

"What do you mean _Claire_ de Lune? Who's Claire? Are you cheating on me?" she shouted, whacking him with his violin bow.

"No, Alice, it's just a song! I didn't write it!" he protested, proceeding to play it before she could do any more damage to him. After the horrible performance (onlookers wondered how Alice managed to listen without her ears bleeding), he turned to her and asked with an expression of complete pride "How was it, Alice? Now, don't go making any of your silly little jokes now…"

"It was _amazing_!" said Alice rapturously. "You're a musical genius!" she declared.

"I'm all right, I suppose" said Gowland, in a failed attempt at modesty. "Hey Alice, I thought you were in love with Boris!"

"I would _never_ love that pesky cat."

"But I called him that and you told me not to!" protested a confused Gowland.

"Oh Mary, can we please go on the tunnel of love ride?" asked Alice.

'Don't call me Mary."

"Please can we go on it?"

"Oh right, you want to try out the ride, right?" he said, not understanding _why_ Alice chose that particular ride.

"Um…sure."

"Okay, off you go!" said Gowland, buckling her in and pressing the start button.

"Wait, you're not coming with me?" asked Alice, disappointment thick in her voice.

"Why would I go? I've been on this ride millions of times! Have fun, Alice!"

--

Alice came out two minutes later, holding a pink heart shaped balloon, and stomped over to where Gowland was.

"Why can't you just COME WITH ME?" shouted Alice, hitting him repeatedly with the balloon as fast she could manage.

"Okay, okay, I'll come, stop hitting me" he said, finally giving in.

Two minutes passed quietly, and once again, Alice stomped out with Gowland at her heels.

"I don't get it! Why are you angry?" he asked, dodging the balloon-hitting this time.

"If you don't get it, it means you're just too immature for relationships!" Alice said, now crying softly.

"What do you mean 'relationships'? I'm a good twenty years older than you, Alice" he said gently. "But I understand why you'd be interested in a musical genius like me."

"You're cheating on me, aren't you?" said Alice through tears.

"Cheating?"

"It's that Claire, isn't it?" she shouted, and stormed off angrily.

--

"Boris, you're right! Alice is out of her mind!" declared Gowland.

"What did she do this time?" he asked wearily.

"She was wildly convinced that we were dating, and that I was cheating on her with a girl named Claire" he said.

"Did she mention being in love with you?" asked Boris.

"She might have mentioned it once or twice…or thirty-seven times, in the tunnel of love ride" he said, scratching his head.

"Alice is scary."

"Agreed."

--

"Nightmare, you idiot! It's completely your fault!" shouted Peter.

"What happened? Did Alice reject you even _with_ the help of the potion?" asked Nightmare, and tried to laugh, but ended up coughing blood. Peter took a step back.

"No, that's not what happened! She accidentally fell in love with that cat from the amusement park! And then she woke up, and she was in love with Mary Gowland, and, and…" explained Peter frantically.

"Oh, I think I forgot to mention that to you. I gave you the wrong potion. This one is a bit different. She'll fall in love with the first person who talks to her _every time_ she wakes up. And she might not remember who she loved previously. And she might go a little paranoid now and then, but other than that, she'll be herself completely!" finished Nightmare happily.

"Why do you even HAVE potions like this?" asked Peter angrily.

"That's something for me to know, and for you to find out."

"So when will this potion wear off?" asked Peter testily.

"Oh, maybe a week, two weeks maximum" Nightmare informed the rabbit.

"Alice…I wonder where she is right now…" wondered Peter aloud.

--

Alice was at Blood Dupre's mansion. After she had stormed off, she ran into Blood, and he suggested a bit of black tea to soothe her, and some good books to calm her nerves. So it was decided. Alice would spend the night at the Mafioso's mansion, and spend the next day reading and drinking black tea.

"That stupid, unfaithful man" Alice grumbled out loud, as she was shown to her room. Mere minutes later, she fell asleep.

--

**Who will talk to her first tomorrow? Elliot? Blood? The twins?**

**Read and review!**


	3. A Double Triple Love?

3: A double – triple – love?

"Good morning, onee-san!" the two guards chanted together. They were sitting on the bed, and staring at Alice, their eyes shiny. Alice's eyes immediately glazed over.

"Boss left for the day. So did the pervert-hare. You can play with us today!" said Dee.

"Will you, onee-san? Will you play with us?" asked Dum, his voice struggling to mask many secret intentions and not-so-clean thoughts.

"Of course I will!" she said, ruffling their hair.

"Yay! We love you, onee-san!" they said, surprised yet delighted at Alice's change in attitude.

"I love you guys too!" she said happily. "You guys are the best little brothers anyone could wish for!"

"Uh…" they said, exchanging expressions that clearly said 'Uh-oh'. "Onee-san, are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be alright?"

"We're not your brothers!" they exclaimed, while Alice's happy expression changed to one of horror.

"Don't say that!" she said, covering their mouths with her hands. "Just because Blood may say so, it doesn't mean we're not siblings."

"Uh…Boss doesn't say anything like that" said Dee slowly. He said to Dum with twin-telepathy _"Has onee-san gone crazy? Maybe she's sick!"_

"_Yeah, maybe. Hey, we can have lots of fun with her then, today!" he replied._

"Onee-san, who do you think Boss is, anyway?" asked Dum.

"Do you guys have memory loss, or something?" she asked, laughing. "Obviously, he's our stepfather."

The twins, their fears now confirmed, began inspecting Alice's head for any bumps that could cause this craziness.

"Haha, what are you two doing. That tickles!" she said, tickling them back, until they were all reduced to a giggling heap on the floor.

"Hey, onee-san, Boss was telling newbie hare about how you're in love with that Mary Gowland. Is it true?" they asked, their eyes filling up with fake tears.

"No. How did he think that?" asked Alice, bewildered.

"He was saying that you were at the amusement park yesterday, with Gowland, and then you got angry at him, and came here with boss" they explained, not mentioning the fact that they weren't supposed to be eavesdropping on their boss's conversations.

"No. Blood is probably delusional. I never liked him, even on the first day Mother introduced him to us" she said, clearly lost in some illusion that her mind had created for her. "You guys don't like him either, do you?"

"No! Of course we don't!" they chanted enthusiastically.

"You two are such good kids!" she said, ruffling their hair again.

Two hours later found the crazy-at-the-moment girl and the two falsely-innocent guards playing tag in the vast, beautiful, well tended-to lawns. The twins were slowly getting accustomed to Alice's strange fantasy, and now referred to their boss as their stepfather. They were simply too surprised by their good luck of having an adoring Alice all to themselves for a day, that they didn't notice Elliot returning from wherever he was.

"Onee-san! I bet you can't catch me!" taunted Dum, and ran slow enough for Alice to catch him. Dee ran in the opposite direction, and for a few moments, Alice was confused as to which of them she should catch first. Finally, she called off the game and summoned Dee and Dum.

"It's tea-time, so no running around. I'll go and make some tea for us" said Alice, tying them both together with a thick rope.

"Umm…Onee-san, why are you tying us up?" they asked, not able to think of any reasonable, logical explanation for Alice's strange behavior.

"Stop wriggling, you two. Stay still."  
"But _why_, onee-san?" they whined.

"It's because I love both of you, and I can't love both of you at the same time if you're not together!" she said happily, securing the knot firmly. She left a small part of the rope for her to hold on to, like a leash. "Now come along" she said with a touch of finality. Like a true big sister.

"_Well, it's our fault, anyway"_ said Dee to Dum, again with their twin telepathy.

"_Yeah, we shouldn't have called her onee-san. Now she believes it!" _Dum agreed sadly.

"There, sit down now," said Alice, joining two chairs together for the twins to sit on, now that they were tied together. "Drink your tea. And don't spill any" she said bossily.

"Onee-san, how are we supposed to drink our tea if our hands are tied?" they asked.

"Oh...that" she said, pondering on what to do. She had clearly not thought this through properly. "Oh! I know! I'll help you two!" she said enthusiastically.

"Okay!" they chorused, delighted at their onee-san's idea. And so, Alice started feeding them, but not before tying napkins around their necks, so "Mother wouldn't have a hard time washing their clothes", Alice reasoned.

After Dee and Dum were forced to drink all the tea in the kettle, Alice sprang up and announced that she would go and make more tea. And she was about to leave the room, the twins were about to voice their protests, when the door flew open, and hit Alice on the head. She fell to the ground, knocked unconscious.

Slowly, she regained consciousness.

"Alice! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you! Oh no, now you'll hate me…" said Elliot frantically. "Alice, don't hate me!" he went on apologizing.

"I don't hate you!" she said, and jumped up quite energetically, and hugged a blushing Elliot.

"Onee-san, you said you loved us!" the twins said, shocked.

"Err…When did I say that?" asked Alice, now feeling the bump on her head, and wincing.

"Just now! You said it so many times, and you even tied us up so you could love us equally!" shouted Dee.

"Yeah, and you just fed us, and…and" raved Dum.

"You stupid kids are obviously delusional" declared Elliot. "Is this some kind of attention-seeking ruse?" he asked, eyeing the thick ropes.

"No!" they shouted in unison. "She tied us up! We're telling you!"

"Whatever, you delusional, stuck-up, stupid little kids!" he said cheerily, and left the room.

"Elliot! Wait up!" Alice called, and ran after him.

"So…" said Dee to Dum. "When do you think we'll be untied?" They looked down at their sorry state; they were tied up tightly and their napkin-bibs were still in place.

"Alice! I'm so sorry! I really am!" said Elliot, still apologizing for hitting her on the head with the door. They were sitting in the lawn where Alice had played with the twins mere minutes ago.

"It's alright!" she said, laughing.

"Are you sure?" he asked, reaching over a garden table to touch Alice's head, where he presumed the wound would be. She sighed, to which Elliot replied "Alice? Are you _sure_ you're alright? You never acted like this before!"  
"That's because I've never felt this way before…" Alice said dramatically.

"Umm…okay" he said nervously, blushing furiously. "Alice, are you drunk or something?" he asked, seriously doubting the girl's sanity.

Suddenly he felt a strange aura around him. It was Alice's killer-predator aura. Her eyes got a crazed look, and she began tugging on his ears as hard she could.

"OW! Alice! That hurts! What are you trying to do, kill me? STOP! Ow!" he screamed, as Alice refused to let go.

Just then, Alice slipped and landed right on top of poor Elliot.

"Ouch! Alice!" he yelled.

"It's your fault, for having such cute, fluffy rabbit ears!" she shouted back.

"I'm not a rabbit!" Elliot insisted. "I just have very—err--large ears"

"Right" said Alice, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, it's okay, because you're sooo cute!" she cooed.

"Well, what have we here?" asked a cold voice from the door. Blood Dupre.

"Nothing!" Elliot almost shouted, pushing Alice quickly off him. Alice got up with a slightly insulted expression.

"It was –" started Alice, but Elliot covered her mouth quickly.

"Guilty, eh Elliot?" he said scathingly. "What a cheap trick you used, young lady. I expected a bit more from you. Pretending to fall on someone just to seduce them into doing something for you, that's so _low_" he said with a snide face.

"Shut up, you stupid, mean, pretentious…" said Alice, searching for a word that would summarize his behavior. "Mean person" she finished lamely.

"I didn't know I was so bad" said Blood mockingly.

"Well, you are!" shouted Alice.

"Blood, don't listen to her, she's either delusional, mad or drunk" he said, putting his arm around Alice's shoulders to stop her from drooping to the floor. Alice leaned onto his shoulder, causing Blood to chuckle.

"Young lady, I notice that you have jumped from one man to another. Tell me, don't you get tired of this?" he said, laughing a bit at the thought of her reply.

"You don't know anything! You're so loathsome!" she huffed.

"Poor _Mary_, you left after flirting with him and convincing him that you loved him. It must be so sad for him" he said, playing with a lock of Alice's hair while talking. Alice slapped his hand away.

"I heard from the twins that you were spreading this rumor. What do you get out of it?" she demanded, now purple in color, because of her rage.

"Rumor?" he mused. "Oh, right, as Elliot said, you are delusional. Or drunk. I prefer to believe the latter, seeing what a _bad_ girl you are," he said, continuing to play with her hair.

"No! I'm not bad! I love only Elliot!" she said fiercely.

"How many times have you used this line?" he retorted quickly.

"She doesn't know what she's saying" Elliot defended.

"Yes I do!" she shouted, causing Elliot's already brilliant red blush to redden further.

"I'll have to change those feelings, won't I?" said Blood softly, now dangerously close.

Slap! A second later, there was an angry red handprint on Blood's face. Trying to hide his wince, Blood roughly grabbed Alice's arm, and said to her "Listen, young lady, remember that you are in _my_ home, and it is _my_ employees you are seducing. I will not have you speaking to me in this manner."

"Humph."

"You are welcome to come by my office and read some books" he said, his attitude changing suddenly. Sigh. There were moments when everyone wondered whether the mafia boss was completely sane or not, what with his dangerous mood swings and his ability to remain composed and calm in nerve-wracking situations.

"I wouldn't come to your office if it was the last place on earth!"

And the argument raged on like this, with a helpless Elliot bearing witness to such an event. It only ended when Alice let out a big yawn, and Blood insisted on her going to bed.

"Who do you think you are, my father?" shouted an outraged Alice, just as the twins walked in. (They spent about an hour shouting for help, and were finally untied.)

"That's exactly what you said, onee-san!" they said. "You thought he was your stepfather or something!"

The expressions on Elliot's, Blood's and even Alice's faces clearly said 'Huh?'

"Oh great, now we have two retarded little kids to deal with, on top of a delusional Alice, and an insane boss. I must be the only normal one…" concluded Elliot.

After half an hour of convincing Alice to leave Elliot alone, and not sleep in his room, the twins escorted the girl to her temporary room. Alice, after a very confusing day, fell asleep almost instantly.

"_Hello Alice. Having a nice time at the hatter's place?" asked Nightmare._

"_I suppose. Though I don't remember much…" said Alice uncertainly._

**(Darkfox's note: Remember, Alice cannot fall in love with nightmare, or remember anything that happened while she's conscious because she's in a dream state, that is, not awake. Don't go confusing yourselves now.)**

"_I see. What would you say if I told you that you spent the last twenty-four hours madly in love with the bloody twins, and then Elliot March?" said Nightmare._

"_I'd think you were ludicrous" said Alice, laughing it off._

"_I can't wait for the reaction she'll have when the potion wears off" said Nightmare, more to himself than out loud._

"_What's that?" asked Alice._

"_Oh, nothing."_

**Good? I liked it! I had fun writing the twins' part.**

**You see, I'm trying to cover all kinds of love. So far, Alice has experienced the whole teenager-in-love thing with Boris, unrequited love with Gowland, sisterly love for the twins, and uhh…I don't know…umm…**_**normal**_** love for Elliot, I guess. **

**Next chapter is Blood's turn. Oops. I spoiled it for you. Ha ha.**

**I said I would kick myself if I didn't complete this chapter by tonight. It worked. I bullied myself into obedience. ^^**


	4. Quadrangle?

4: Quadrangle

As the first rays of the morning sun entered the room, Alice opened her eyes. For a moment, she felt so serene and peaceful, she wondered whether anything possible go wrong. Then realization settled in. She did not have a clue what had happened in the past few days. The last memory she had was… of Peter forcing her to drink some liquid. When was that? Three days ago, probably. So where was she now? She sat in her confused state, not bothering to get up and get ready, trying to figure things out.

_Yes, I remember talking to Nightmare, and he asked whether I was having a good time. And then he asked…What did he ask me? Something about Elliot and the twins?_

Failing to recall what she dreamt of, she passed it off as something unimportant, and went off to ready herself for the day. But the thought did not leave her. How could it be possible that she spent three days without knowing what she was doing? Maybe she was drugged!

_Yes! That must have been it! Peter must have drugged me! _she thought, making a mental note to slap the rabbit the next time she saw him. Dressing herself, she pondered over her mysterious amnesia. While she was leaving the room, she noticed that she was in the hatter's mansion.

_Uh-oh. I'd better leave before I run into – _

Bad luck. As she was trying to escape, she bumped into the devil himself.

"I – uh – was just leaving!" she said hurriedly. He gave her an amused expression. Flaring up, she was about to start shouting, when he put his hand over her mouth and said "Young lady, before you bite my head off, let me say that I meant no…disrespect."

"Of course you didn't" she said, flustered. The potion was doing its work.

"Oh? You suddenly seem so understanding" he said, dragging out his words deliberately. Watching Alice blush deeply, he slowly raised his hand to her cheek, when they were rather rudely interrupted by a cautious voice.

"Boss? Is that you?" asked a certain rabbit. Hearing Blood's yes, he walked into the hall, saying "Have you seen Alice? There's something I wanted to tell her."

"What is it?" asked Alice, stepping out from behind Blood.

"I-uhh- I've come to – uhh-" he stuttered, obviously extremely nervous.

"Get on with it, Elliot" commanded Blood.

"Alice, I accept your feelings! I love you too!" he shouted animatedly.

"Elliot, what are you talking about?"

"Uhh-uhh…" he said, nervous all over again.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked, peering at him.

"Yes! I'm fine!" he yelped. "Alice, you remember! You said that you – err- loved me yesterday" he said. "You even said you love _only_ me!"

"I didn't say anything like that! Anyways, you already told me this at the tea party" she said.

"But-but I didn't _mean_ it then!" he whined, and was escorted away by faceless servants, who were saying "The summer heat must have got to him, poor Elliot-sama" quietly to Alice.

"Now that he's out of the way…where were we?" asked Blood seductively.

"Oh…" Alice said, blushing.

"What is it Alice? Have you become overly conscious of me?" asked Blood. "I suppose that's a good thing!" he said, and leant in to kiss her, and Alice did the same, just when a loud, annoying (to Alice, at least) and very familiar voice called out "Alice! What do you think you're doing?" very frantically.

"Here we go again" sighed Alice.

"Is it fate that makes us be interrupted by rabbits again and again?"

"Alice! What're you doing with this idiot? And you! Don't get so close to my Alice!" said Peter, barking the last bit at Blood.

"Rabbit, who let you in? I thought I had those two security men to stop irritating, impudent, ill-mannered intruders such as yourself from trespassing."

"No, boss, we're right here!" shouted Dee and Dum from a corner. With frustrated expressions, both Alice and Blood turned to the two twins.

"What are _you_ two doing here?" asked Alice.

"You guys seemed to be having so much fun!"

"Yeah, so we wanted to create an album called 'Onee-san and Boss'," they explained, holding up a small camera. "But this stupid rabbit won't get out of the shot!" they complained.

"Stupid perverted kids" said Alice harshly. Maybe Blood's cruel nature was rubbing onto her, now that she was – err –

" – in love with boss?" asked the twins, their eyes now full of _real_ tears.

"Really, Alice?" asked Peter.

"Of course" said Blood smoothly, and was about to attempt to kiss her again, when his lips touched a hard surface. Confused, he looked up to see Peter holding up a book in between Blood and Alice.

"Peter! Go away!" screamed Alice, and attempted to push him away by diving onto him forcefully.

"Ouch…" Peter said, rubbing his head, with Alice on top of him. The twins were frantically clicking away with their camera, whispering "This is better than Boss and Onee-san!" in a carrying whisper. But Alice's tactic had not worked. Peter, assuming that this was a sign of affection from Alice, hugged her tightly.

And then the gun fight started. Peter sprung up surprisingly fast and raised his gun to point at Blood _and_ Elliot. They all shot at one another until their bullets ran out and they called an unspoken ceasefire. Just then they noticed that Alice was nowhere in sight. Panicking, Peter and Elliot ran in opposite directions in search of the lost girl. But Blood simply walked to his office. Opening the door, he had one of the biggest shocks in his life, which is saying something, because the hatter was never really surprised at anything.

"Back?" called a female voice. It was Alice, sitting on the sofa, wearing a very short nightgown, no shoes, and not much else.

"What are you doing?" he asked, avoiding looking at Alice.

"Oh…nothing…" she said, stretching.

"Young lady, are you trying to….seduce me?" asked Blood, holding back laughter. Just then, the door banged open. In a moment of confusion, four people leapt at Alice at the same time; the twins, Elliot and Peter, all saying things along the lines of "Alice! I found you!" or "Alice! What are you wearing?"

The weight of four entire people was evidently too much for a young girl, and with the breath knocked out of her, she fainted, yet again, amidst shouts of "No! It's your fault, you stupid rabbit?" "Rabbit? I'm not a rabbit, for god's sake!" "Yes you are!" "No I'm not!"

They all pitched in to help carry Alice back to the clock tower, and left after apologizing profusely to an out-cold Alice.

Alice awoke to Julius waking her up. She showed no change, and Nightmare wondered for a second whether the potion's effect finally wore off.

Then a minute later, he took back his words. Alice stood at the doorway, wearing an apron and holding a cup of coffee on a tray. "Here's your coffee, dear" she said cheerily.

"Dear?" asked Julius, his eyebrows rising.

"Of course, I've been calling you that for ten years now, and you've never objected before!" she said.

"What are you talking about? You're such a strange woman, Alice" he replied, taking the coffee and sipping it slowly.

"Gosh! You're so mean. One would think that you'd be nice to your wife, but apparently you won't!" shouted Alice, and left, crying.

"W-wife?"

**Hehe, good enough? God. It was so HARD doing this chapter. I had to re-read the chapters in HnKnA with Blood, because I kept forgetting what happens in the story, and what happened in various fanfictions. **

**Next update will be pretty soon, because I've got to finish this story in a week.**


	5. Julius, darling

5: Julius, darling.

"W-wife?" the watchmaker asked, his eyes widening.

"Yes, hubby, I'm home!" called a cheerful voice. A cheerful male voice.

"Ace, what are you doing here?" asked a befuddled Julius.

"Oh, not much. Delivering some clocks…" he said, yawning. "But what was that about a wife?" he asked curiously.

"Alice…"

"What about her?" Ace asked, taking off his cloak and coat to settle down in an armchair.

"I think she's gone crazy."

Suddenly, a sad voice spoke up.

"What cruel things is he saying now?" Alice cried.

"Aww, Alice, it's alright. Julius is cold outside, but inside he loves you a lot, more than any of us, I'm sure" said Ace, patting her hand in a comforting manner while ignoring the death glares and angry coughs from Julius.

"Really? That's good!" said Alice and skipped over to give a very surprised Julius a forgiving hug.

"You two are like some old married couple or something" said Ace, still laughing at Alice's strange actions.

"Eh?" asked Alice, confused.

_What does he mean, LIKE an old married couple?_

But Ace didn't have time to understand why Alice was confused, because a few seconds later, the doorbell rang and all three of them went to answer the door.

It was a faceless man holding three small but ornate scrolls. "Message from the queen, sir" he said to Julius and left after bowing to all of them in turn.

Alice picked it up and read it out loud.

"_Dear Alice Liddell, _

_You are invited to Vivaldi's, the queen of hearts', annual tea party. All the role holders will be present. You are requested to make an appearance in formal wear at 7 30 pm, tomorrow evening. You will be guided to the venue on arrival. _

_Best wishes from everyone at the Castle of Hearts."_

"Mine says the same thing" said Ace, and Julius nodded to show his agreement.

"I also have a small handwritten note inside mine" said Alice, holding up a small piece of paper. She decided not to read it out loud, since it was probably written privately to her.

The note was in very curly, flamboyant handwriting, befitting the queen's hidden personality.

_Alice, dear, we hope you can come. We know this tea party is for role holders only, but we would be very pleased if you came. After all, we like cute things very much, and you are very cute. _

_Love, _

_Vivaldi_

_P.S. We have recently acquired a great number of stuffed animals to add to our collection. We can show them to you if you come earlier, before lunch._

Smiling to herself, Alice folded up the note and put it in her pocket. Turning to Julius, she said "Darling, you _must_ wear the new suit you bought last week."

"Darling?" asked Ace, his eyes wide. "Alice, you really love him, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" she declared fervently. "After all, he's my hu-" she started, but was cut off when Julius put his hand over her mouth.

"Hey! No fair! I want to know the secret!" pouted Ace jokingly.

After ten minutes of Julius stopping Alice from saying anything, and Alice's muffled shouts, Ace announced that he would be leaving.

After a quiet dinner, Julius went to his office to fix some clocks.

_Hmm, that's rare. Alice isn't here to watch me fixing clocks._

"_Magic" she says. Huh._

_Alice. What is happening to her? Wife? Husband? What is she talking about? I hope she's alright. Maybe it's my fault. I'm not right for her. She should move out for her own safety…_

_Wait, what was that thought? I'm not 'right' for her? What am I talking about? It's not like we're married, or something. I must be sleepy. That's why I'm thinking these weird things. I'd better get to bed._

Walking to his room, he noticed that the light in Alice's room was already off, which meant she was asleep. Smiling, he entered his room and went straight to bed, without even turning the lights on.

"You're finally done, dear?" asked a sleepy voice from one side of the bed.

"Aah! Alice! What are you doing here? Why aren't you in your room?" asked Julius.

"What do you mean, 'your room'? This _is_ my room!" she protested. Her fierce expression swiftly changed to one of kindness. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm the one who should ask that!"

"All day, you seemed pretty confused" mused Alice. "Maybe you have a fever?" she wondered, and put her hand to his forehead. He quickly moved back, relieved that the light was off so she wouldn't see how much he was blushing.

"I'm fine. Now please go back to your room" he said, struggling to keep his voice normal.

"No, I'm staying here."

After some shouting and a few shed tears from Alice's end, Julius finally gave in. He put a few pillows in between them, faced the wall and pretended to fall asleep, when he felt the pillows in between them move, and an arm around him.

"Please, Julius, stop being so distant" requested Alice in a small voice. "This room looks so scary at night!" she wailed in a voice which was, to Julius at least, irresistibly cute. But till, he refused to turn around. He felt her face snuggle into his back, and it took all of his willpower to stop himself from turning around and hugging. He was half frightened Alice would return to normal all of a sudden, and shout at him for trying to suffocate her.

"Humph. So cold" she said finally, and also turned to the other wall.

A little while later, when Julius was absolutely sure Alice was asleep, he turned to her side, and put his arm around her, and fell asleep like that. What Julius couldn't see was Alice's smile while she _pretended_ to be in a deep sleep.

The next morning, Alice was the first to wake up. She looked up to find the most bizarre sight she had ever woken up to. Julius, with his hair messed up, was hugging her tightly in his sleep, his face a few inches away from hers. Screaming, she jumped out of the bed.

_What happened? Did anything…happen last night? Me and Julius? Why can't I remember anything? _she thought frantically.

"Julius? Wake up! What happened? Why am I here? What's happening?" she asked hysterically.

"Alice?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Yes, darling?" asked Alice, her attitude immediately changing.

_Oh. She's still like this? Somehow, though, I'm getting used to this. I don't mind. I really don't…_

"Why are you shouting early in the morning?" he asked pseudo-irritably, to hide his satisfaction.

"You're the one who wakes up grumpy!" she shouted, and bolted out, presumably to make breakfast and coffee, like all good wives do.

_Such an irritating, emotional 'wife'_, he thought to himself and chuckled.

After breakfast, Alice announced that she'd be going to the queen's palace early.

"I'll miss you _sooo _much!" she said, giving him a hug.

"You'd better take clothes with you, so you can change for the tea-party" he reminded her, ignoring her hug.

"Right, dear. You're so smart!" she said, and skipped off to get her dress. She stuffed it into a bag, and headed out the door, calling out "See you in the evening, darling!"

Alice was in a very, very good mood, and she didn't know why. It was almost as if she was on drugs or something, but she was almost giddy with happiness. She couldn't – and wouldn't – walk normally. She only skipped through the forest on the way to Vivaldi's, carrying a bag. One would instantly be reminded of Little Red Riding Hood. She only paused to think about her beloved 'darling'. Just as she resumed her hop-skip routine, she accidentally crashed into a tall figure who immediately drew his sword to protect himself.

"Oh, Alice, it's just you" he said, sighing and putting his sword back in its sheath.

"Hi Ace! How are you? Want some cookies? Tea?" she asked, her questions flowing continuously.

"Tea would be nice" he said, staring off into space. Alice found a flat, treeless place to sit, and set up a mini-picnic, with tea, cookies and cake.

"Ace how long have you been walking around?" asked Alice, pouring him a cup of tea.

"Ever since I left the clock tower. I couldn't find my way back to the castle" he said.

"Castle? Oh, I'm going there too. Do you want to come with me?"

"Alright! But Alice, can you tell me something please?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"What did Julius stop you from saying yesterday night?" he asked her, curiosity getting the best of him.

"Oh, that? That was nothing! It's nothing you _don't_ know. I was just going to say that I do love him a lot, because after all, he _is_ my husband…I don't know why he stopped me…"

An awkward silence hung about the air for a few moments. Then, Ace burst into laughter. "Ahaha, Alice, that's a good one. Julius, your husband!" he said, roaring with laughter. Alice stared at him with a blank expression. "Seriously, Alice, how do you come up with these things? Brilliant!" he said, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

"But it's true!"

Another awkward silence.

"What?" he shouted.

"I can't believe you didn't know that" Alice scoffed. "Why do you think I _live_ there?"

"B-but…" stuttered Ace.

_No way! She's delusional. Of course it's not true…_

"Right." he said in an unbelieving tone. "Now come on, if we don't start walking now, we'll only reach tomorrow morning" he said, holding out his hand to help Alice get up. Still holding on to Alice's hand, he pulled her along the way, going faster and faster.

"Ace! Slow down! I'm getting tired" she called out. Looking at his devious expression, she was sure she had just made a huge mistake.

"Well then, would you like me to carry you?" he asked, and before she could answer, he scooped her up, bridal style, and continued walking as if nothing had happened.

"Aah! Put me down!" she demanded.

"Why? You _said_ you were tired" he reasoned, grinning at her.

"No! Put me down!" she said fiercely. "Julius will _not_ be happy if he sees me being carried away by someone like _you_!" she screamed.

"Alice, listen to me. You. Are. Not. Married. To. Julius" he said, emphasizing on every word, his face inches away from Alice's. And as if to prove his point, he closed the gap between them with a slow kiss.

"Augh! Stop it, Ace! What's got into you?" she yelled, pushing him off and finally standing on the ground.

"Nothing's wrong with me. But Alice, I love you" he said for the second time.

"I still don't think you do" she said angrily.

"It doesn't matter. I'm perfectly happy like this" he said, putting his arm around Alice's shoulders.

Anyone even miles away could probably hear Alice's shouts of "Ugh, you pervert!"

They reached the palace sooner than usual, owing to the fact that Alice moved as quickly as possible to escape from Ace. As they entered through the gates, they spotted one too many familiar faces. All the role holders, except Julius, were sitting in the palace, even though it wasn't time for the tea-party till another 4 hours.

"What are all of you doing here?" she asked, curious.

Most of the answers were embarrassed (they all had experienced Alice's strange, undying love for each of them in turn) mutterings of "Didn't have anything else to do…" or something of the like.

But Alice had no time to stick around and chat. She was immediately ushered into the queen's room. The population of stuffed animals seemed to have increased twofold since Alice last visited. These must be the new 'items to her collection' Vivaldi referred to.

"Alice. You are finally here" said a proud voice. "We hope you have kept well?"

"Yes, Vivaldi, I'm fine, what about you?" she asked, always taking care to be a little extra-polite around the queen.

"We are also fine. We really wanted Alice to see these new toys. They are much cuter than the old ones" she said, holding up a stuffed unicorn. "We notice that you have also gotten cuter."

"Oh, you know what they say, love makes people more beautiful" Alice replied, blushing.

"Love? With who?" asked Vivaldi curiously. "I shall have them beheaded!"

"No, please don't. It's only Julius, my husband, after all" Alice said.

"Husband? We did not know of this. We were not invited to any wedding" she said.

"It wasn't recently. It was a long time ago…" Alice said, explaining the details of their wedding to a deadpanned Vivaldi.

Time flew by in no time, while the two were gossiping about Alice's 'married' life. Soon Alice was being dressed and made up in a room assigned to her by Vivaldi's personal dressers, who were basically faceless servants.

She emerged from the room, with her usually straight hair in curls, and with the uncommon touch of make-up on her face. It was time for the tea-party.

Sitting at the large, antique table with many pairs of eyes on her was a very uncomfortable experience for Alice. She kept saying to herself _"how can they look at a married woman that way?"_

Luckily, or so she thought, Julius arrived a few moments later, in the suit Alice had suggested he wear.

"Dear, you're finally here!" she said, standing up and walking to him. The thing she did next shocked every single one of them, and left their mouths hanging open.. She stood on her tip-toes and planted a small kiss on Julius's mouth. Alice returned to her seat as if nothing had happened.

"A-Alice, what did you just do?" asked a very scared voice. It was Boris.

"So, young lady, you've jumped from one man to another already" said a cold voice, Blood Dupre's voice.

"Nooooo! Alice!" shrieked another. Peter. "No! It's all my fault! I'm so sorry!" he said.

"Why I sit such a big deal? Or have you people never seen a married couple before?"

"M-"

"M-"

"M-"

"MARRIED?" shouted Elliot, Dee and Dum together.

"Alice! No! When did this happen?" cried Peter.

"We've been married of ten years" Alice said, extremely weirded out by their behavior.

"TEN YEARS?" shouted Gowland.

"Alice, ten years ago, you would have been a child!" someone said.

"Ten years ago, you never even KNEW about this place!"

After a series of outraged shouts, they all came to a single conclusion: Alice had officially lost her mind, or become completely delusional. Ignoring her strange fantasy, they continued their tea-part, as if without interruption. The usual arguments took place, between Ace and Blood, Julius and Elliot, Gowland and Blood (this one was the loudest, and ended in a screechy, ear-splitting violin performance by Gowland), the twins and Elliot, Blood and Alice, and so on.

As it neared nighttime, Alice got up and said "Dear, let's go home" to Julius. Julius, blushing fiercely, looked away.

"No, Alice, we insist that you stay here for the night. We wish to spend our time with you tomorrow as well" said Vivaldi. And so it was decided. Alice stayed back in the room previously assigned to her, dreaming away about her beloved 'husband', Julius.

**Hehe, I lol'd while typing this. It was FUN! Poor Julius. Poor Peter, nothing ever goes right for him.**

**Thanks a lot, 4-Evah-Anonymous, for giving me a couple of ideas for this, and for threatening me with socks and ramen, and, and… (You guys don't even WANT to know. The two of us are weird on a whole new level.)**

**Hope you like it! Review, please!**

**(And if you want to see how I visualized Vivaldi's handwriting, look at the font Palace script. Even the name is befitting!)**


	6. Vivaldi's Fangirl

**People! I've finally updated my profile page, so go check it out, if you want!**

**This chapter was mainly based on a request I got from Aoi Liddle. (Thanks to her, I've extended my story by one chapter.) If any of you have got any requests, just review or PM me!**

6:

_During the tea party:_

Peter White's thoughts were racing. How could Alice think that _fiend_ was her husband? He partially blamed himself for her predicament. If only it went right! If only that stupid cat hadn't interrupted! That was it. He'd have to talk to her first thing in the morning, literally. Alice would fall in love with him, and when the potion _finally_ wore off, he'd remind her of this incident, and she'd realize his good points and fall in love with him properly.

He quickly made the plan in his head: he'd follow her back to the clock tower and wait outside her door to talk to her when she woke up. If she stayed in the palace, he'd do the same thing.

When Alice stood up to leave, and the queen ordered her to stay the night, a devious smile crossed his face; he'd finally—finally, at long last - get what he wanted. Alice's love.

Looking at his stupid expression, the psychotic, directionally challenged knight, Ace, turned to him and asked in a falsely innocent voice, "Alice seemed a bit odd today. She was saying something about…being in love with Julius", ignoring Peter's angry, 'don't-bring-it-up' face. All the role holders at the table agreed, relating their strange meetings with Alice to each other.

Peter, fired up with jealousy, anger, self-loathing, hatred (towards Nightmare) and many other feelings, stood up, and shouted out something he'd soon regret:

"Alice doesn't actually like ANY of you! She accidentally drank a wrong potion, so she always falls in love with the first person she talks to, and she doesn't remember anything after she wakes up!"

Elliot's voice broke the prolonged, awkward silence that ensued after Peter's statement. "You mean Alice doesn't actually like me? And does that mean I confessed to her for nothing? She won't remember?" he asked disappointedly.

"I see. That explains her erratic behavior" Blood mused out loud.

"Onee-san doesn't love us!" sniffed the twins in their best baby voices.

""So all you're saying is that you have to be the first to talk to her in the morning?" came a voice.

"Basically" answered Nightmare from a corner of the table. Though it was known that all role holders would be present, no one had noticed his presence and everyone was mildly shocked to suddenly hear his voice.

"YOU!" shouted Peter White. "This is your fault! You gave me the wrong potion" he said, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"But it's your fault for giving it to her!" shouted someone else.

"Was not!"

Everyone pulled their guns out (in Ace's case, a sword) simultaneously, to back up their arguments with a couple of bullets each.

After an epic battle, they unwillingly called a truce.

"Let's leave Alice alone" said Julius, always looking out for her.

"Okay" said everyone, a little too readily.

_End of tea-party._

Blood, Elliot and the twins were supposedly walking back to the hatter mansion, though everyone there had intentions of returning to the palace later that night, or early in the morning.

"Ha, it all makes sense" said Elliot. "No wonder Alice was acting like that! Alice, loving me, ha-ha…Not that I _wanted _her to like me, or anything" he added nervously.

"Yeah, you newbie-hare, did you _really_ think that onee-san would actually like you?" said the twins.

_Who knew that a group of grown men have the capability to turn into arguing five-year-old children over one girl? _thought Blood.

_Anyway, it won't matter, because the young lady will obviously talk to _me_ first thing in the morning. After all, I resemble her ex…_

"Hey Dee?" asked Dum quietly. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Of course I am. Let's go to onee-san's room in an hour or so, okay?"

"Agreed!" they chanted together.

_Back at the palace:_

Ace was walking through the corridors of the palace, trying to figure out where his room was, when he came across Alice's room.

_Alice._

The white rabbit's, the prime minister's words rang through his ears: _"Alice doesn't love any of you!"_

_Well, I'll just have to change that, won't I?_

And somehow, the situation turned out to be extremely weird and slightly creepy. Elliot was outside the building, looking up at Alice's room, while Peter was inside her room (he entered with the master key), and the twins were scaling the building to get to her window, while Ace sat right outside, listening to Blood's footsteps ascending the stairs. Boris was hiding in the closet; he had gotten in much earlier. From their various hiding spots, they gazed at what appeared to be Alice's sleeping figure under many layers of blankets.

_Peter_. Peter was confident that he was the only one who cared about Alice enough to take her away in the middle of the night, so there he was, unarmed, except for a single key which allowed him access to any room in the palace. He had a countdown going on in his head; in about ten seconds, he would wake Alice up gently, talk to her immediately, and the rest would be a cakewalk, he decided.

_Elliot._ Elliot was slightly guilty, and ashamed. He never thought he'd have to stalk after some _girl_ this way. But after all, he reasoned with himself as he climbed up the stairs to her room, this wasn't any ordinary girl. This was Alice. Alice, his recently-found love; Alice, the foreigner with a big heart; Alice, the only one he knew who valued life. Holding his breath, he decided to wait a few seconds before his dramatic burst-in.

_The twins._ The two twins scaled the building effortlessly. In their security guard training, they'd had to scale buildings much higher and wider than this one; it was a piece of cake. To them, Alice was precious. She was their onee-san, the only one who would play with them, the one who told them right from wrong. Even if she saw them as little kids, they could be satisfied with that. After all, Alice was precious. Ten seconds, and they'd reach her room. And she'd love them again.

_Boris_. Though Alice's reaction towards him had scared him completely, he was a bit intrigued. Alice was somewhat like his best friend/love, so how could he let her go? Alice, to him, was the one who knew him the best, and actually cared about him. He didn't know what this feeling was, but it felt pretty good.

_Blood._ Blood had no idea what he was doing. He never thought the day would come when he would desperately be looking for this foreigner who had managed to woo so many men in such little time. Perhaps he had fallen under her spell. Yes, that would explain why his legs seemed to have a mind of their own, bringing him to the girl's room discreetly.

_Ace._ He sat, his thoughts all mixed up. He himself had said that Alice did not hold much interest for him. Then why was he here in this pathetic situation, waiting outside her room as she slept, like some love-struck teenager? He braced himself. He would have to enter the room, carry her off, and finally, talk to her as soon as she woke up. Yes, that would be perfect. Ten more seconds now.

_10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1_

At the same time several things happened. The door banged open, permitting Ace, Blood and Elliot, and the window opened in a similar way, letting the twins in. Peter looked up, startled, but Alice did not stir. They all stopped for a second to look at everyone else in the room. After a moments silence, they all pulled their respective weapons out on cue, and began shooting, yet again. Still Alice did not wake up. All of them stopped shooting, curious to see why the girl was in such a deep sleep. Peter put his arm on the sleeping figure, and for a moment, he didn't say anything. Then, he slowly looked up and said slowly "She's not here."

"_What?" _shouted Elliot and Boris. "Then-then who is that?" asked the twins.

Peter suddenly started pulling on the figure's head. It appeared to be coming off! Screaming, they all backed away slowly, not wanting to see a severed head, when Peter held it up, to show that it was just a rolled up blanket.

"Where could she be?" asked Peter aloud, walking through the corridor after forcing all outsiders to leave by summoning an army of faceless soldiers.

"Master White, Vivaldi-sama has asked to see you in her alternative bedroom this minute" a maid's voice came.

"At this hour? Why?" he asked fiercely. Obviously, he was NOT in a good mood.

"I'm not quite sure, sir. But she was talking to that fair-haired foreign girl (Anna, or Amy, I think her name is), Master White" she said, bowing and walking away.

"Alice!" he shouted, and ran off to the queen's second bedroom. For some strange reason, he was never allowed into her main bedroom. Perhaps there were severed heads on sticks or something equally gruesome there.

Peter ran into the room, shouting "Alice!" when he saw her sitting on the queen's bed. He immediately pounced and encased her in a death grip-like hug. His mood lightened instantaneously, but he could feel Alice pushing him off, so he quickly switched to rabbit form. Alice's grip tightened.

"White, we suggest you get off our bed before we order your execution" said Vivaldi.

"Your majesty, what is Alice doing here?" he asked, still sitting on Alice's lap.

"We were pacing the corridors earlier, when Alice stumbled out of her room, presumably sleepwalking. We brought her to our room, and she woke up a few minutes ago" she explained, lazily picking at her nails.

"Oh no."

"She has been acting quite strangely ever since she woke up" she said, gesturing towards the girl, who was staring at Vivaldi with an expression of rapt attention. "Do you see what we mean?"

"Alice, are you alright?" he asked, with an expression of concern.

"Sure, I'm alright, Peter" she said in a distant voice. "I'm just slightly in awe, after waking up in the presence of such a great person" she said, sighing.

"Great person?" asked Peter. "It's just Vivaldi, Alice!"

"We beg your pardon?"

"Don't be rude, Peter" she said. "After, this _is_ the queen of hearts. She is the greatest ruler ever!" she gushed. "And she's so beautiful and kind and, and, and… I love Vivaldi the most! She's amazing!" she trailed off, while he stared at her with a horrified expression.

"We are very flattered" said Vivaldi in her best kind-and-modest-queen voice. "Alice, would you like to stay with us at the palace?"

"Of course!"

"You may have the room adjoining ours. We can play in our room everyday!" she said happily, before remembering that Peter was not to know about her stuffed-animal obsession. "We mean... We may have tea and have good conversations everyday."

"You're joking, right?" she asked. "That would be the greatest thing ever!"

"Excellent. We can arrange for this right now" she said, and walked out, presumably to inform a maid to arrange for a room.

"

"She's amazing, isn't she?" said Alice happily. "I can't believe she's so nice, and un-snobbish! After all, she _is _the queen of hearts, right?" she said, in extreme fan-girl mode.

"Alice, please, snap out of it!" begged Peter, now in human form again. He jumped off the bed, and stood in front of her. "Please, please, please!" he said pleadingly.

"Snap out of what?" she asked, mystified. "I've always been like this!" she said, playing with his rabbit ears.

Peter, for all his concern, could not help but be happy; Alice was moving to the palace, and she was actually having a normal, non-shouting conversation with him.

She also stood up, and hugged him consolingly in an it's-okay-we-all-go-insane-sometimes way.

Peter stood in shock for a moment, before picking her up completely while hugging her and spinning her around. He was incredibly delighted; Alice was hugging him while he was in human form. He was starting to like this new Alice more and more.

Still hugging Peter, the warmth and the spinning seemed to have gone to her head; she was very dizzy and sleepy at the same time. Snuggling up to the source of the warmth, she fell asleep in Peter's arms.

**Sorry Vivaldi's part was so short…But I still think the end was sweet. And I'm sorry this took such a long time to put up. Writer's block…grrr…**

**Look out for my collection of poems, coming out later this week!**

**By the way, this is the next-to-last chapter!**


	7. Ace's turn, and the subsequent ending

7

Ace looked up happily at the ceiling. Who would have ever thought it would come to this? Alice was sleeping in a perfectly contended Ace's lap, and no one was there to object or interrupt! Happily, he marveled over how easily it had all happened; he had just walked into a room, to see Alice sleeping peacefully. He then picked her up and simply brought her to his room, that was all!

A few peaceful moments later, Alice was stirring. If what that rabbit said was true, he'd only have to talk to her. A simple "Hello, Alice" would do the trick. However, this clever knight had a plan.

"Huh? Ace? Where am I? Why are you here?" spoke a small, female voice.

"Ah, Alice" he said ever so softly. With one look at her eyes, he knew that the prime minister had been telling the truth.

Alice had been awake in Ace's room for several minutes now. Nothing had happened, but for her, being there was good enough. What was this feeling, this overpowering, overwhelming feeling?

"Ace, I – " she said, leaning forward slowly, deliberately.

"Aw, Alice, you're such a cute little kid" Ace suddenly said, ruffling her hair good-naturedly.

"Huh? Kid?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah! You're so adorable!" he said in a little-kid voice.

"B-but I'm 16! I'm not a little kid!" she wailed.

"Aww…You're so cute when you're playing pretend" said the doting father figure.

"I really _am _16! And what do you mean, act like my father?"

"Alice, darling, you're taking this teenager act a little too far" he said, in a reprimanding tone of voice.

"No, Ace, YOU stop it! You know very well who I am!" she protested loudly. Unfortunately for her, she was sounding more and more childish by the moment.

"Well, Alice, will you explain to me who you are?" he said, with all the niceness of a kindergarten teacher.

"Damn it, Ace, don't you _dare_ patronize me! I am a fully grown, mature, capable adult who is merely…" Though she started off sounding like a confident, self-righteous young woman, she trailed off, by the end.

"Who is merely what, Alice?" he asked, with a knowing smile.

"Who is… Well, I really don't know!" she said, confusedly. "I don't remember the past few days at all. I don't remember what I did, or who I met, or anything."

"You don't remember anything?" Ace asked, aghast.

"Well, I do remember one thing…" she said quietly.

"Oh, and that is?" he asked, not completely sure where this was going.

"That I love you, Ace." Having said that, she leaned forward and kissed him, after inhaling his scent. Ace, caught slightly off-guard, kissed her back without even thinking about it. To Ace, kissing Alice was natural, perfect and something he could get used to doing every single day.

Alice, encouraged by his involuntary response, clung to him desperately, never breaking the kiss.

And then Ace remembered. What on earth was he doing? His plan was not to succumb to Alice's love; it was to drive _her _to him, and to make sure she was desperately and irrevocably in love with him and only him. He would show everyone else. Hmph.

So Ace, summoning all the self-restraint he had, pulled away from Alice. Alice, though, refused to understand and leaned towards him to resume what had just ended.

"No, Alice, no", he said, first softly, and then firmly. Then came the signature smile: the cheerful, yet slightly creepy and distracting wide smile that he sported so often. "I'm sorry, Alice. That wasn't anything. You're going to have try much harder than that. How can I believe that you love me?"

"But I do love you!" she exclaimed. And somewhere, in the back of her mind, she remembered something exactly like this happening, except in a reversed manner.

"You don't love me."

"I do"

"You don't."

"I do!"

"You don't."

"I **do**!"

"Well then, Alice, prove it" he said matter-of-factly. "Let's go and tell everyone you love me!"

"Okay!" said Alice cheerily. Ace, with a very gentlemanly gesture, offered her his arm, and together, arm in arm, they walked in the direction of the Hatter mansion.

After an hour of walking (with some getting lost on the way, in between) they arrived at the mansion. Ace burst through the gates, in a loud and attention-getting manner. Surprisingly, no one came running to stop them. Those twins must be slacking off again, though Ace with an amused smile.

They casually walked through the corridors, and Alice identified the office of the mafia boss, Blood Dupre himself.

They nonchalantly entered the room, to see Blood with a glass of wine in his hands, while Elliot and the twins were fighting. They all froze when they saw their unexpected guests.

"All of you, Alice has an announcement to make!" Ace told them, with his signature smile.

Alice put her hands around Ace's waist in a sort of semi-hug, and said "I, Alice Liddell, am in love with Ace!" Having said this, she smiled expectantly at the person she was holding onto. Ace ruffled her head obligingly, and said "Good job, love."

Alice blushed at the term of endearment, and looked at her feet.

"Well, well, if it isn't the oh-so popular princess. You've jumped men again, I take it?" asked a snide voice that Alice identified as Blood's.

"What do you mean, 'again'?" Alice shot back, getting fired up.

"Onee-san, how could you?" whined the twins. "We thought you loved us!"

"Alice! What- what are you saying?" asked a very agitated rabbit. Then he realized, "Oh, it's just the potion talking! That's okay, we all have a fair chance!"

"Potion?" asked Alice. "Whatever, let's go, Ace" she said, brushing the shocked residents off easily.

"Sure thing, Alice!" he said happily, swept her up and carried her away while Alice willingly clung onto him.

A faint popping noise sounded after their grand departure, indicating that all four of the Mafia men had jaw-dropped at the exact same time.

There was a similar reaction at the amusement park, ending with Boris looking heartbroken and Gowland offering them a special couples' pass.

Alice, deciding she would tell Julius later, skipped the tower.

Next stop, Castle.

Outside the castle, Ace stopped, and stood facing Alice fully. He held her at arm's length and looked at her solemnly.

"Now Alice, do you really love me?" he asked again.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Yes!"

"Now, I am going to ask you something, and I'm going to record your answer. Is that okay?"

"Do whatever you want."

"Splendid" he said, and pulled out a tape recorder. Pressing the record button, he spoke into the mic. "Okay. Alice, do you love me?"

"Yes, Ace, I love you very much."

"Did you or did you not kiss me of your own accord a couple of hours, after confessing to me?"

"I did. Wait, why are you asking me this?"

"Never mind that. Okay, next question. Will you move in with me, at the castle?" he asked with a straight face.

"Of course! I'd love too! Oh, Ace, this is amazing!" she said excitedly.

"Can we act like a normal couple then, and do –beep- and –beep- and making out and stuff?" he asked, looking devious.

"Now that's taking it too far. But yes, maybe some of that stuff."

"Splendid" he said again, and switched off the recorder.

In castle, reactions were violent.

Vivaldi was outraged. "Alice, we expected more of you. You are a married woman! How could you do such a thing, with this preposterous knight of all people?"

"Well, this 'preposterous knight' happens to be the one I'm in love with!" she announced again, and, putting her arms around him, kissed him then and there.

"Ugh, enough, we are thoroughly disgusted."

Just then, Peter burst in while Ace and Alice were in mid-snog.

"Alice! Good lord, what are you doing?" he shouted, and ran towards the new couple.

"Oh, hi Peter. Did you know, I'm moving here?" she said nonchalantly.

"That's good news! But for this man? No, I shall not allow it!" he said angrily. And then, in a swift motion, he grabbed Alice and forced some sleeping potion down her throat.

Alice fell asleep in his arms comfortably.

Alice opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was Peter's face.

"Alice!" he said joyously. Finally- FINALLY- his plan had worked!

"Peter!" she said with a huge smile on her face. She grabbed for him, and pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm so happy to see you! I just wanted to tell you, I love you!"

Peter's expression was one of utter bliss. "Oh Alice, I've been waiting for these words to come out of your sweet mouth since day one! Can I- can I kiss you?" he asked, all in one breath.

"Of course!"

So Peter leaned forward happily. But when he was mere inches away, he heard Alice's loud, angry voice shouting at him.

"Peter, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Alice! You just said...you loved me?"

"Ha, what? Why would I say that, I hate you!" she declared.

"Oh, looks like the potion wore off, Peter-san," said Nightmare, suddenly appearing at the scene. "Tough luck."

"Noooo!" yelled Peter. "I was so close!" he said, sobbing.

Later, after the situation was explained to Alice, she refused to believe a word. "Why would I act like that?" she asked.

And then came the pictures Peter had secretly taken. There was one of her and Boris on a ride, her and Gowland on the tunnel of love and her feeding the tied-up twins. More pictures included her in her nightgown, with Blood, her clinging to Julius, her hugging Vivaldi, and finally, one of her being carried off willingly by Ace.

"Wha-what?" she asked, flabbergasted. "When did this… What happ… Oh my god!" she said, unable to finish her sentences.

"That's not the worst part!" added Ace cheerily. "There's also a tape." And then he played the tape to her. Alice listened in shock as she heard herself declaring her love for Ace, promising to live with him, and do…certain things with him.

"So in short, _Peter_ gave me a potion that mad me do all this and _Peter_ took all these photos?" she asked.

"Uh, yes."

"That's it, Peter. I'm never talking to you again, and also, I loath you!" she said with a touch of finality, and marched off.

Looks like Peter's plan had not only miserably failed, but also made Alice turn against him. Moral? Never trust Nightmare Gottschalk.

END

**So, what do you think? This **_**is**_ **the end of the story, so review please!**

**I know, it's been a while, but I've been busy lurking other fandoms. I'm sorry, HnKnA, I've betrayed you. : (**

**Bye everyone! Thanks for reading!**


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